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JJiTORIC MUSE 

"^1^ ON 



Mount 






REGOR 




ONE Of THE /cDIF^OJvJD/ceKS, 



NEAR SARATOGA. 




Sylvester. 







k 




LOOKING TOWARDS SARATOGA LAKE. 



THE HISTORIC MUSE 



Mount MacGregor 



ONK OK TUK 



ADIRONDACKS 



NEAR SARATOGA. 



Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, 

COKRESI'ONDING SKCRETARY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OK SARATOGA. AND AUTHOR 

OK HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NOKTHKKN NEW YORK AND THE ADIRONDACK 

WILDERNESS; A HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY; A HISTORY OF 

RENSSELAER COUNTY ; A HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY ; 

AND A HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT 

VALLEY, IN MASS., ETC. 



IVItile (here's leaves in the forest and foam on the river, 
MaeGret^or, despite them, shall flourish forever! 

— Sir IValter Scott. 



TROY, N. Y. : X,^' t 

N. B. SYLVESTER 

1885. 






G 



\ 

Coi'yku;ht, 18S5, HY Nathaniel Bartlktt Sylvester. 




THE DREXEL COTTAGE, 

MT, MAC GREGOR, 

Residence of General Grant. 



THE HISTORIC MUSE 



ON 



Mount Mac Gregor 



Leave me to gaze at the landscape, 

Mistily stretching away, 
Vv'hen the afternoon's opaline tremors 

O'er the mountains quivering play — 
Till the fiercer splendor of sunset 

I'ours from the west its fire. 
And, melted as in a crucible, 

Their earthly forms expire. 

— IF. W. Story. 

I. 

MOUNT MAC GREGOR is one of the peaks of an 
Adirondack range of the old Laurentian mountain 
system. It is situated in a sharp bend of the Hudson 
river, about ten miles to the north of the village of Sara- 
toga Springs. It rises to the height of nearly thirteen hun- 
dred feet above the level of the sea and is the highest peak 
south of the Hudson of the Palmertown range of the 
Adirondacks. 

On the Atlantic slope of the* North American continent 
two vast mountain systems lie contiguous — the Appalachian 
to the east and south and the Canadian Laurentian to the 
north. 

These two mountain systems differ radically both as to 
form and (reolo<ric structure. 



4 HISTORIC MUSE 

The great Appalachian mountain system, divided into 
numberless ranges, extends along from fifty to one hundred 
and fifty miles inland parallel with the Atlantic coast line 
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north to the Oulf of 
Mexico on the south. 

Between the city of Troy and the Atlantic seaboard the 
mighty Chasm of the Lower Hudson breaks through this 
great Appalachian mountain system and rends its towering 
masses in twain from top to bottom. Up through this 
chasm the ocean's tide ebbs and flows through the river's 
channel, here, as it were, an arm of the sea, for the distance 
of one hundred and fifty miles until its waves almost wash 
the foothills of the Adirondacks. 

The Canadian Laurentian mountain system stretches 
from the coast of Labrador up along the northern shore of 
the St. Lawrence river to the vicinity of the upper lakes 
and fills the vast inhospitable region of the Saguenay, of the 
LIpper Ottawa and of the Lower Saskatchewan, to the south- 
ern shore of Hudson's Bay, with its rugged mountain 
masses of hard crystaline rocks. 

At one place only do the Laurentides cross the River St. 
Lawrence. That place is at the Thousand Islands. There 
a spur of these mountains crosses into Northern New York, 
carrying with them into the great Adirondack Wilderness 
all the grim and rugged characteristics of their wild Cana- 
dian home. 

After, by its broken and rugged character, forming the 
Thousand Islands in crossing the St. Lawrence, this spur 
of the Laurentides spreads over and forms the rocky 
groundwork of the whole Wilderness region, and centrally 
rises into lofty mountain peaks, which tower above thou- 
sands of gleaming lakes, and countless mountain meadows. 



<)N MOUNT MAC GRE(;OR. 5 

Across the south-eastern part of the great Adirondack 
region the mountain belt extends divided into five stupend- 
ous mountain ranges. These ranges He iibout eight miles 
apart, and are mostly separated by well defined intervening 
valleys. 

The most easterly range is the Palmertown or lAizerne 
range, in which Mount Mac Gregor occurs. The next wester- 
ly is the Kayadrossera range. This range fills up the western 
horizon at Saratoga Springs with its forest-crowned sum- 
mits, and is separated from Mount Mac Gregor by the val- 
ley of Greenfield and Corinth, through which runs the Adi- 
rondack railroad. Further to the north-west the mountains 
rise higher and higher in the Schroon, and in the Boquet 
ranges, until they culminate in the mighty Adirondack 
range proper, four of whose peaks tower upwards more 
than five thousand feet above the level of the sea. 

The Palmertown range of the Adirondack mountains, of 
which Mount Mac Gregor forms a part, begins on Lake 
Champlain in the heights of Mount Defiance, at Ticon- 
deroga. From thence it extends south-westerly along both 
sides of Lake George, where French Mountain is one of its 
highest peaks. 

From the head of Lake George this range stretches still 
southerly, across the Hudson near Glens Falls, and reaching 
toward Saratoga Springs, ends in the low, bare, rounded 
hills called Miller's Rocks, on the northern border of 
Woodlawn Park. 

WESTERN OUTLOOK. 

From the western outlook on Mount Mac Gregor the 
visitor obtains a view of two or three of the higher and 
more western Adirondack ranges. Looking across the 
beautiful valley of Greenfiekl and Corinth, whicli lies sleep- 



6 HISTORIC MUSE 

ing at his feet, he sees in the nearer view the high forest- 
crowned ridge of the Kayadrossera range, filHng up all the 
south-western horizon, while further to the north-west the 
towering peaks of the more distant Schroon and Boquet 
ranges seem to pierce the clouds. 

Wonderful are the hues and tints and shades of color 
which these forest-crowned mountains, seen from Mount 
Mac Ciregor, assume with the varying seasons of the year, 
and with the daily changes of the weather, as the sky al- 
ternately becomes clear and bright, or overcast and dark. 
Sometimes the air is so pure and clear after a storm has 
passed over them that all the rugged mountain masses 
stand out so sharply defined and seem so near that one 
fancies that human voices could be plainly heard from the 
furthest of them. Then again they are all mantled with 
the matchless soft blue haze called mountain smoke, which 
is that dim impalpable but lovely illusion and semblance of 
a color, that indescribable appearance of the fleeting, the 
vanishing and the spiritual, which can be seen no where 
else in nature's realm but among high mountain ranges. 

GEOLOGIC OUTLINES. 

To the student of geology the region of Mount Mac 
Gregor and Saratoga is of the most absorbing interest. 

The old Laurentian rocks of the Adirondack ranges are 
the very foundation stones, so to speak, of our habitable 
globe. Their granitic and gneissoid strata, broken here 
and there by basaltic upheavals, constitute the oldest 
known rocks of the earth's crust. 

Ages upon ages, before the sandstones and limestones of 
the Silurian age were deposited in the shallow Primordial 
sea which once washed their base these hard crystalline 



ON MOUNT MAC ORKOOK. 7 

rocks, fonniiiir the old Ailirondack mountain peaks, slowly 
rose above the waters of the primeval ocean into the 
steaming atmosphere and misty sunshiiic of the newly 
forming earth. 

Ages again elapse, until the beetling crags of these old 
crystalline rocks, worn by the fierce war of the elements, 
partially crumble into shifting sands. 

During other ages these loose sands, washed by descend- 
ing streams into the shallow sea, at last settle into regular 
strata and form the first series of the sandstones of the 
Lower Silurian age. 

Thus at the foot of Mount Mac Gregor the young geolo- 
gist of to-day stands upon what was once the shore of a vast 
ocean, which covered the whole continent of North Amer- 
ica, save the old highlands of the Canadian Laurentides, a 
spur of which forms the groundwork of the Adirondack 
wilderness. 

Such is a meagre outline of the explanation which science 
now attempts to give of the geology of this region. 

From another point of view this region is of great interest 
to the student of geology. American geology derives much 
of its scientific nomenclature from the conformation and 
structure of the rocky strata underlying the state of New 
York. Nowhere else are so many rocky strata found in due 
position and piled np in their regular order, one above the 
other, just as they were laid down through the long creeping 
centuries of the early geologic periods as m Northern New 
York. 

Thus at Mount Mac Gregor, and at Miller's Rocks, and in 
other places in the near vicmity of Saratoga Springs, can 
be seen the Laurentian granite, gneiss, and syenite which 
represent the Azoic age. Lying above these, in due con- 



» HISTORIC MUSE 

formity, can be seen in some places the Potsdam sand- 
stones and the Calciferous sand-rocks of the primordial 
period of the Lower .Silurian age. Then above these last, 
in regular gradation, rise the limestones and shales of the 
Trenton period of the Silurian age. 

Here then, near Saratoga, the door opens upon the 
earliest dawn of the earth's geologic ages. 

The man of science enters this opening door with awe 
and wonder. 

Among the mmerals found in the old Laurentian rocks, 
near Saratoga, besides the garnet and the tourmaline, is 
that rare and beautiful gem, the chrysoberyl, lighting up 
the dark rocks with its gleaming opalescent lustre. 

A RAILROAD TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP. 

In the early annals of the region, what is now called Mount 
Mac Gregor, was long known at the " Palmertown Moun- 
tain," and the postofifice in the little village of Wilton, at its 
foot, was known as " Palmertown." 

Before the French and Indian wars were over, an Algon- 
quin Indian band came and settled in a village on the plain 
at the foot of this mountain. They were called the 
"Palmertown Indians," hence the name of this mountian, 
and from it the name of the mountain range. 

A few years since, its then proprietor, Duncan Mac 
Gregor, bought this mountain, laid out and graded a 
winding carriage road thereon, which rendered its summit 
of easy access. 

But since then the spirit of modern life and progress has 
invaded the quiet shades of Mount Mac Gregor. Already 
a railway has been built and equipped, leading from North 
Broadway, at Saratoga Springs, northward, and following 




EASTEfiN OUTLOOK. 



ON MOUNT MAC GRKGOR. 9 

the base of the mountain range to the top of Mount Mac 
Gregor. 

This railway is of narrow gauge, and is ten and one-half 
miles in length. 

Work was begun on this railway on the 17th day of 
March, 1882, and on the 17th day of July following it was 
formally opened to the public with appropriate ceremonies. 
The moving spirit in the enterprise was W. J. Arkell, of 
Canajoharie, who is the vice-president of the corporation. 

Mr. Mac Gregor built a comfortable little hostelry on the 
summit of the mountain, which afforded ample accommo- 
dations for visitors. But this has smce been superceded by 
a large and elegant hotel — the "Hotel Balmoral." 

Being now so easily accessible Mount Mac Gregor has 
become one of the chief attractions of the great watering 
place. 

II. 

From the " Eastern Outlook" of Mount Mac Gregor the 
eye wanders over the broad valley of the Upper Hudson 
from the Adirondacks on the north to the Taghkanics on 
the south. In its broadly undulating sweep of wooded hills 
and shining waters this, the ancient home of the Mohicans, 
is the fairest land in all the New World. 

The Hudson River is the child of the mountain belt of 
the Adirondack wilderness. Its source-fountains are cra- 
dled on the lofty summit of Mount Marcy and on the shaggy 
sides of the awful gorges of the Indain I'ass, the Panther 
Gorge and the Gorge of the Dial. The Hudson breaks 
through the Palmertown range at the foot of- Mount Mac 
Gregor, and from thence wanders through a wider valley. 
From the summit of Mount Mac Gregor, overlooking this 



lO HISTORIC MUSE 

wide upper valley of the Hudson, a living, moving, acting 
panorama of striking historic characters and events, could 
have been seen by an observer, had one been there, reaching 
through a period of two hundred and fifty years. 

The rounded summit of Mount Mac Gregor, forest- 
crowned, invites us by its cooling shade and attracts us by 
that deep sense of repose which nature offers those who 
love her, and to them only, when in their weary moments 
they seek her ministrations on the mountain top, or in the 
desert wilderness far away from the haunts of men. 

And when one is on this mountain top how pleasant it 
is to linger there, standing on the eternal granite which 
forms the first link in the long procession of the slowly 
creeping geologic ages through which our earth has passed 
from birth to bloom, viewing by day the bright processions 
of birds and flowers as they come and go each in the 
appointed season, and by night the eternal procession of 
the star depths. But more interesting than all these is that 
procession which appeals directly to our sympathies — the 
long procession of historic characters who from the earliest 
times trod with bleeding feet the war-worn pathway of the 
great northern valley which stretches along at the very foot 
of Mount Mac Clregor. 

Let us imagine that some sturdy voyager to the New 
World, in the opening years of the seventeenth century, had 
drunk of Ponce de Leon's fabled fountain of Bimini and 
becoming thereby endowed with the vigor of eternal youth, 
was, in the month of June, in the year 1609, standing at 
"Point Lookout," on the eastern brow of Mount Mac 
Ciregor, with the intent of watching the tide of human travel 
as it should ebb and flow up and down the great northern 
valley through the slowly passing centuries then to come. 



ON MOUNT MAC OkEOOk. II 

Hut before the long procession of historic characters 
begins its stately march along the old wilderness trail let 
us, for a moment, look abroad and see what is going on in 
the world as our observer first steps upon the granite rock 
of Mount Mac (iregor to begin his long vigils in that leafy 
June of 1609. 

It was just after "the spacious times of great Elizabeth " 
were over, for James I., the first of the Stuart kings, had 
been but six years on England's throne, and Henry IV. of 
France, the first of the Bourbon line, was in the last year of 
his reign. The vast and splendid monarchy of Spain, 
founded by the union of Ferdinand and Isabella but a little 
more than a hundred years before, enriched by the spoils 
of Mexico and Peru, and whose magnificence and power 
had culminated under Philip II., the ruler of half of Europe, 
was now under the imbecile rule of Philip IV., already hast- 
ening to dismemberment and decay, while the haughty 
house of HohenzoUern had just received from the King of 
Poland the investiture of the duchy of Prussia, and had as 
yet shown no sign of the mighty empire over which that 
house now holds majestic sway. 

The grotesque characters of the old Passion Plays— the 
Mysteries, Miracles and Moralities of the Middle Ages were 
stalking fantastically across the English stage. Shake- 
speare, at forty-five, had just finished his "Antony and 
Cleopatra," and all Spain was shaking its sides over the 
immortal " Don Quixote " of Cervantes, then a literary 
venture of only three years standing. Milton was but a 
child six months old, playing in his mother's arms, and it 
was fourteen years before the birth of .Mf)liere. 



12 HISTORIC MUSE 

MOHAWKS ON THE WARPATH. 

Had such an observer during that early summer month 
been standing on Mount Mac Gregor he might have seen 
on some dewy morning or sultry noon two hundred Mo- 
hawk warriors treading with noiseless step the old Indian 
trail which ran along the sandy plain at the mountain's 
base on their journey northward. 

This old trail, which ran at the foot of Mount Mac 
Gregor, led from the Indian castles in the Mohawk valley, 
over the Kayaderossera mountain range near Lake Deso- 
lation, thence eastward along the Greenfield hills crossing 
the Palmerton range, near what is now known as the old 
Stiles tavern, and thence northward along the head of Lake 
George, passing in its course near the foot of Mount Mac 
Gregor and crossing the Hudson near what is now the 
village of Glens Falls. 

These warriors of the Mohawk band, painted and plumed 
and armed with bows and arrows and battle-axes were on 
the war-path. They were the dreaded hereditary foes of 
the Algonquin tribes of the St. Lawrence valley. But this 
time they met more than their match. The Algonquins 
were also on the war-path, and with them came their new 
ally, Samuel de Champlain. As the reader knows the 
Iroquois band fled in terror from their encounter with 
Champlain, a disordered horde, and retreated along the 
trail which passed Mount Mac Gregor to their castles on 
the Mohawk. 

FATHER ISAAC JOGUES. 

And it was many a year before our observer on " Point 
Lookout" could have seen another Indian band pass along 
the trail at the foot of Mount Mac Gregor. But the reader 



ON MOUNT MAC GRKGOR. I3 

will remember that our observer can wait lonj^. He has 
drunk of the fountain of eternal youth. 

At length, in the year of 1642, after Nature, always 
aggressive, had, with her luxuriant vegetation, almost obli- 
terated the old jxithway, our observer might have seen 
another Indian band approaching Mount Mac C.regor, this 
time from the north. 

Perhaps this band will halt at the very foot of the moun- 
tain and light their evening camp-fire. But what strange 
figures have these wild Indians with them ? They have 
white captives, bound, tortured, maimed and bleeding. 
These white men are Father Isaac Jogues, the discoverer 
of Lake George, and his two companions, Rene Goupil and 
Guillame Coutre, whom this savage Iroquois band had 
taken prisoners on the second day of August of that year, 
upon the expansion of the St. Lawrence called Lake St, 
Peter. The reader will remember that this band took 
Father Jogues to the Mohawk country, and held him cap- 
tive till he escaped in the year 1643. Again in 1646 
Father Jogues passed over this old trail on his way to the 
Mohawk country. While on his way this time Father 
Jogues reached the beautiful lake on the eve of the festival 
of Corpus Christi, and in honor of the day he named it the 
" Lake of the Blessed Sacrament." This name it bore until 
the year 1755, when Sir William Johnson changed it 
to Lake George, in honor of the English king. 

GENERAL DE TRACY. 

But the Thirty Years' War in Europe was ended by the 
peace of Westphalia in the year 1648, and again our obser- 
ver must wait for a period of thirty years. But in the 
autumn of the year 1666 his watchful vigilance is rewarded 



14 HISTORIC MUSE 

by the sight of a splendid military pageant winding its way 
along the old war trail at the foot of Mount Mac Gregor. 
It is the cavalcade of the Marquis de Tracy, Lieutenant- 
(ieneral, and M. de Courcelle, Governor of Canada, who 
were on their way to chastise the insolent Mohawks. This 
band, thirteen hundred strong, is made up of Indians, 
French habitans and six companies of the Regiment Carig- 
nan Salicres, "the bronzed veterans of the Turkish wars." 
Here were de Tracy and Courcelle with the Chevalier de 
Chaumont ; here was the Colonel M. de Salieres with his 
captains the Sieur de Sorel, the Sieur Chambly and the 
Sieur de La Mothe ; here were the men dragging their two 
pieces of cannon " over slippery logs, tangled roots and 
oozy mosses." "It seems to them," writes Mother Marie 
de ITncarnation, in her letter of the i6th of October, 1666, 
" that they are going to lay seige to Paradise, and win it 
and enter in, because they are fighting for religion and the 
faith." 

After the return of this little army in triumph, over the 
old trail, no more Mohawks are to be seen on the war-path 
for twenty years. 

KING PHILIP OF POKANOKET. 

In the meantime, however, during the winter of 1675-6 
bands of strange Indian hunters frequent the forest shades 
near Mount Mac Gregor. They are plainly of Algonquin 
speech and lineage. It was during this winter that King 
Philip of Pokanoket with his trusty warriors of the Connec- 
ticut valley tribes, the Pa-com-tucks, the Non-o-tucks, the 
Ag-a-wams and Squak-keags, occupied for the time being 
that part of the old Mohawk hunting grounds which lies 
along the Hudson above and below Old Saratoga. The 



ON MOUNT MAC C.UKGOK. 15 

winter of 1675-6 was very severe ami the snow tleep. In 
Fel^riiary a heavy thaw came and the Mohawks drove the 
intriulers back. 

After the tragic death of Philip, during the coming sum- 
mer, a straggling band of his followers returned to their 
camping-ground on the Hudson, and settling at the mouth 
of the Hoosac river were henceforth known as the Sc/tai^h- 
ii-cokcs. 

III. 

The English Revolution of 1688, which virtually ended 
the Stuart dynasty and elevated William of Orange and 
Mary of England to the British throne, and which was in so 
many ways beneficial in its effects upon England, involved 
serious consequences to the dependencies of the British 
crown. Although bloodless in England it resulted in the 
battle of Boyne Water in the summer of 1690, the bitter 
animosities of which then engendered still linger in the 
breasts of Irishmen, and it brought about the cruel massa- 
cres at the burning of Schenectady by the French and 
Indians in the winter of the same year, which was the 
beginning of seventy long years of colonial warfare in the 
depths of the old blood-stained wilderness. 

Of many of the most important events of these seventy 
years of French and Indian warfare, waged against the 
frontier English settlements, our observer on Mount Mac 
Gregor could have seen the actors as they trod the old war- 
trail which led up and down the great northern valley. 

Doubtless with his eagle eye he could have seen Sieurs 
Mantet and Sainte Helene with their sturdy followers strid- 
ing on snow shoes over the vast fields of the frozen waste 
on their way to the sacking and burning of Schenectady. 



l6 HISTORIC MUSE 

He could have seen each man with the hood of his blanket 
coat drawn over his head, his gun in his mittened hand, a 
hatchet, a knife, a bullet pouch and a tobacco pouch at his 
belt, his pipe in a leather case, hung at his neck, as he 
wearily dragged his blanket and store of provisions on an 
Indian sledge, called a toboggan, over the snow for hun- 
dreds of miles through the desolate winter forest. 

Perhaps this band of Canadian noblesse and coureurs de 
bois with their Indian allies, numbering in all some two 
hundred and fifty souls, halted for the night on the plain 
near the foot of Mount Mac Gregor. They had been 
eight days in the bitter cold before they reached the Hud- 
son, and now a thaw had come on and made the progress 
so slow and painful that it took them nine days more to 
reach Schenectady, and so they halted for one night at 
least, near our observer. At the close of the short winter 
afternoon he might have seen them in squads of eight or 
ten digging away the deep snow from the little spots of 
ground where they could kindle their camp-fires. 

What think you my fair and gentle friends of the Sara- 
toga Snow-Shoe and Toboggan Clubs, of such an expedition 
as that was, sent by Count Frontenac, in the winter of 1690? 

But it will not do to linger too long with our snow-shoe 
and toboggan travelers, for somebody else is coming soon. 

GEN. FITZ JOHN WINTHROP. 

At length the early spring of 1690 broke bright and 
warm in the old wilderness. Summer advanced and with 
it came toiling up the war-worn valley, Gen. Fitz John 
Winthrop, with his Connecticut troops — a little over eight 
hundred men. This was the first of those military 
expeditions that were undertaken upon a large scale by 




LAKE ANNA. 



ON MOUNT ^rAC GREGOR. 1 7 

Great Britain and the American colonies for the conquest 
of Canada. Our observer will tire of the measured tramp 
of armed men up and down the valley, will tire of blood- 
dyed streams and of wild mountain meadows filled with 
nameless new-made graves before these seventy years of 
French and Indian wars are over. 

THE BATTLE OF THE GREENFIELD HILLS. 

But nearer to our mountain comes the tide of war. In the 
depth of the winter of 1693, another band of men on snow- 
shoes, and with toboggans, passed down the valley at the foot 
of Mount MacGregor, on their way to the Mohawk country. 
This band was commanded by three tried leaders, Sieurs 
Mantet, Courtemanche and La None. It was made up of one 
hundred picked soldiers of the line, and a large number of 
Canadians and Indians from the missions — Iroquois, Aben- 
akis and Hurons. All told they mustered six hundred 
and twenty-five men. On their return from the Mohawk 
valley, where they had burned and plundered the three 
principal villages of the Iroquois, they were pursued by 
Major Peter Schuyler, of Albany, at the head of six hun- 
dred whites and Indians, across the Greenfield hills. Two 
or three miles to the south of Mount Mac Gregor is a moun- 
tain pass through which the old trail runs across the range. 
As the French on their homeward journey reached this pass, 
they halted for three days on a plain that is near what is 
now known as the Stiles tavern. Here trees were hewn 
down and a fort quickly made, after the Indian fashion, by 
encircling the camp with a high abatis of trunks and 
branches. At length Major Schuyler, with his hastily 
mustered band of armed settlers and Oneida Indians, in 
all about six hundred strong, following the trail, came in 



l8 HISTORIC MUSE 

sight of the French fortified camp. The forest rang with 
the war-whoop, and the Oneidas at once set to work to 
entrench themselves with felled trees. The French marched 
out to dislodge them. Their attack was fierce, but it was 
as fiercely resisted by Major Schuyler's band, and the wild 
combat was long and bloody. Three times the French 
renewed the attack in vain until darkness closed upon the 
scene. All night long the hostile bands watched each 
other from behind their forest ramparts. The morning 
was dark and a blinding snow storm was raging. The 
English were without food and could advance no further 
till supplies came. Taking advantage of the storm the 
French retreated unseen, and passing over the trail at the 
very foot of Mount Mac Gregor, reached the Hudson and 
crossed it just as their pursuers, who in the meantime had 
been supplied with food, reached it banks. The French 
crossed on a cake of ice then lodged in the stream. As 
the English reached the shore, the ice floated away and 
left nothing but the angry flood of swollen waters between 
them and the escaping fugitives. The French left thirty 
of their dead on the field and carried off a large number 
of wounded. 

And so the bloody wilderness warfare raged until the 
peace of Ryswick (1697) put an end to the contest. 

(JUEEN ANNE's war. 

In the year 1700, the war of the Spanish Succession 
broke out in Europe. During this war the bloody contest 
was renewed in the old northern valley. In 1709 Gen. 
Nicholson marched up the valley and built forts at old Sa- 
ratoga, at Fort Edward and Fort Ann, on his fruitless ex- 
pedition of that year against Canada. In 17 13 the treaty 



ON MOUNT MAC (", KKGOk. If) 

of luitrecht put an end to the war in Europe and there 
was peace in the old northern valley for thirty years. 

GRAY-I.OCK. 

Ikit during this long peace the French were not idle. 
About the year 1722 war broke out afresh between the 
New England people and the Indian allies of the French. 
The leader in this war was a Sachem called Gray-Lock — 
from the color of his hair. Before King Philip's war Gray- 
Lock, who was a JVo-ro-noak, lived at Westfield, Mass., the 
ancient seat of his tribe. Upon the death of Philip, Gray- 
Lock fied with a remnant of his people to Missisquoi Bay, 
at the foot of Lake Champlain. From his retreat our ob- 
server, with the eagle eye, could often have seen him on the 
war-path which led down the Hudson and up the Hoosac 
river. At the head-waters of the Hoosac river rises the 
lofty mountain which still bears the name of Gray-Lock 
the last of the U^o-ro-iwaks. 

THE BURNING OF OLD SARATOGA. 

In 1 740 the war of the Austrian Succession again set 
Europe all ablaze, and again the old war trail was alive 
with armed warriors. From his secure retreat upon our 
mountain top our observer might have seen in the chill 
November of the year 1745 the midnight sky lighted up by 
the flames of burning Saratoga (Schuylerville). He might 
have seen during the following bloody years more than 
thirty war parties sweep down from Fort St. Frederick at 
Crown Point upon the settlers of Saratoga and Rensselaer 
counties. 

THE SEVEN YEARS* WAR. 

The seven years of peace were followed by the Seven 
Years' War of European annals, during which the old 



20 HISTORIC MUSE 

northern valley was filled with the tramp of vast armies. 
In 1755 our observer could have seen Sir William Johnson 
at the head of his army marching to Lake George. With him 
was Col. Ephraim Williams and his regiment, the flower of 
old Hampshire county, Mass. In the following year came 
General Winslow's and General Abercrombie's tramping 
thousands, marching to defeat and death. This was fol- 
lowed in the year 1759 by General Amherst's victorious 
legions, the triumph of Wolfe at Quebec, and the blessed 
peace of Paris in 1763, which forever ended the old French 
and Indian Wars. 

THE PEACE OF 1763. 

And now a new era dawns in the old northern valley. 
The Indian warrior has departed to return no more. A 
new race of men have come to people the wilderness. 

From his height on Mount Mac Gregor our observer 
could have seen in many a spot near by the little opening 
clearings in which the settlers built their first rude homes. 
He could see in these little clearings the father planting corn 
among the blackened logs of the fallow — the mother in the 
single room of their humble log dwelling, surrounded by 
her infant children, plying her daily toil. 

And let us see who a few of these settlers were who 
built their homes so near the foot of Mount Mac Gregor. 

There was Hugh Munro, who came about the year 1664 
to what is now Gansevoort, and built a saw-mill on the 
creek. And there were the Jussups who came on later 
than Munro, and built a road from Fort Miller across the 
plain and around the foot of Mount Mac Gregor to their 
would-be baronial seat further up the river, at what is now 
Luzerne. And a year or two after Sir William Johnson's 



ON MOUNT MAC CREOOR. 2 1 

visit to the High Rock spring, which was made in 1767, 
Mr. Johannes Glen built his road through the woods from 
Schenectady past Saratoga Springs to his two thousand 
acre patent at what is now South (ilens Falls. And about 
the year 1765 the Ikisbins and the Payns, the \'anden- 
burghs and Vandewerkers, the Parks and the Bitelys and 
the Perrys all settled between Mount Mac (iregor and the 
Hudson. 

THE "ASKEW LINE." 

About the year 1769 the Kayaderosseras Patent was run 
out, and the surveyors in tracing the southerly askeic line 
of the 22d allotment crossed the top of Mount MacGregor. 
This line can to-day be traced by an observer, on the 
eastern outlook, being marked by the bushes which have 
sprung up along the fences as it stretches off from the 
mountain side in a northeasterly course. It is not straight 
for having been run by the magnetic needle it shows the 
earth's curvature. 

THE OLD PINE TREE. 

And during all this long historic period there was a 
towering pine — a monarch of the ancient forest standing 
on the top of Mount Mac Gregor, which was a land-mark 
to all those who journeyed up and down the valley. 
Nothing but its stump now remains. 

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. 

P)Ut there were two families that settled on the west 
bank of the Hudson before the Revolution, the smoke of 
whose cabins our observer on Mount Mac Gregor could 
have seen curling above the tops of the ancient wilderness. 
These were the Joneses and the McCreas. They came from 
New Jersey. The widow Jones, with her six sons, settled 



22 HISTORIC MUSE 

at what is now called the Rogers place, and John McCrea 
and his sister Jeannie, a few miles below in the Payn neigh- 
borhood. The part which David Jones and Jeannie Mc- 
Crea took in the Burgoyne campaign of 1777, is too 
familiar to the reader to bear repetition here. 

From his height on Mount Mac Gregor our observer 
could, with his eagle eye, have seen the frightened settlers 
fleeing down the valley at the approach of Burgoyne's 
army ; he could have seen Jeannie on the eve of the fatal 
day cross the river by the old Jones ferry to meet her lover ; 
he could have seen her on the noon of that July Sunday 
driven to her death by the merciless savages, and he could 
have seen her hasty, new-made grave by the rippling blood- 
dyed stream. 

THE PEACE OF 1783. 

At length the fierce fratricidal war is over and peace 
once more spreads her white wings over the war-worn val- 
ley. Yet our observer is still at his post on Mount Mac 
Gregor. 

Again the old inhabitants are mostly gone, and once more 
a new race comes to people the wilderness. Little hamlets 
spring up in Wilton, in Moreau and in Northumberland. 
These little hamlets are for awhile, and up to the year 
1800, the centers of population in the valley. Before the 
year 1794 the settlers at Saratoga Springs went northward 
to do their shopping with the merchants of Wilton and 
Northumberland. Early in the century, also, in Wilton and 
Northumberland, prominent lawyers and physicians settled 
in full view of our observer, and the old wilderness so 
often trod by hostile feet began to " bud and blossom as 
doth the rose." 



ON MOUNl" MAf CRKf.OR, 23 

And to-day, to the thoughtful visitor from tlic great 
watering place, as he stands on Mount Mac dregor, our 
observer is still there, for he is the (ienius of History, en- 
dowed with immortal youth. 

IV. 

On the bare summit of "Old Whiteface," one of the 
highest peaks of the towering mountains of the old Adiron- 
liack range, some enthusiastic lover of the magnificent in 
nature, has cut with reverent chisel, deep into the bare sur- 
face of the everlasting rock, these eloquent words from 
Howitt's "Book of the Seasons," — 

" THANKS BK TO GOD FOR THE MOUNTAINS." 

And the many thousands of summer tourists and pleas- 
ure-seekers who annually visit Saratoga, have not only the 
village itself, with its magnificent buildings rising with 
columned arch and castellated tower in fairy like propor- 
tions amid its shady streets, its verdant lawns and bubbling 
fountains ; they not only have Congress Spring Park, 
which in its numerous attractions, combines the sweet re- 
pose of nature with the fairest charms of art ; not 
only Saratoga Lake, the Race Course, and Judge Hil- 
ton's Woodlawn Park, already budding into rare ar- 
tistic beauty, to interest them, but they can also look 
northward, and within easy morning ride climb the 
rugged brow of Mount Mac Gregor, and as they stand 
upon its summit they can view the whole upper valley of 
the Hudson, teeming with its countless historic memories ; 
they can breath there the pure invigorating air fresh 
from the Great Wilderness, and while gazing upon the 
splendid scene there spread before them, they too, with the 
sweet poet of Nature, can appreciatingly say, " Thanks 
be to God for the mountains." 



24 ADVERTISEMENTS. 

^THE + MERIMl 

!^lpHis Favorite, well established Hotel, is now open for the Season of 
W^ 1S85, It is centrally located between the United States and Grand 
Union Hotels, within three minutes' walk of the Congress Park and the 
Hathorn, Congress and others of the most famous and popular springs. 

The Piazza, the most prominent one in Saratoga, commands a 
view for several blocks north and south on Broadway. The house has 
been generally renovated the past winter and many improvements made ; 
among which are the addition of one of Otis' 1,atest Improved Pas- 
senger Elevators. 

Steam heat insures comfort to its guests on damp and chilly morn- 
ings and evenings. 

The table will maintain its usual high standard — second to none 
in Saratoga. Special rates for June and September. For terms and 
rooms apply to 

FARNHAM & BUSH, PROPRIETORS. 

Saratoga Springs during the past winter has become a most famous winter 
resort. Outdoor amusements, such as tobogganing and snowshoeing were 
largely engaged in. 

DECORATIONS FOR PAF^LOR, OINING f(OOM 
OF^ LIBRARY. 

I/laiitilEized ^latse and Wood Mantel^, 

BRASS KRAMKS, 

Andirons, Fire Sets and Fenders, Tile Hearths and Facings, 

Improved Grates of the very Latest Designs, 

can be found at 

C.iWj BILLINGS'S 

SLATE MANTEL WORKS, 

Cor. North Third and Hutton Sts., Troy, N. Y. 




ADVERTISEMENTS. 






25 



flMPiMM 






^^ 



^RO^DWAy, Qoi^. Qi\/isiO[M 3t. 



DIRECTLY OPPOSITE UNITED STATES HOTEL, 



>araToqa C)prinqs 



(^a (i;prina$ 



av. 



W. W. WORDEN, Proprietor. 



Green & Waterman 



■Siri^t-ffila^d Babinet Raker^?^ 

«-^c) e>^^ ^^^w ■ " " 



feefe^ 



AND DEALERS IN 



pjR[NjITLfl^E, QJl^TAIJNlSj QeDDI[nJGj [^TC. 

We solicit a visit to our extensive Warerooms and an opportunity to 
estimate for every variety of House Furnishing and Decor- 
ating. Special attention given to furnisliing country 
cottages. Personal atttention will be given 
when desired. 

-^ W AR E R O O Nl S -^ 

283 f^lVER ST, - - - TF^OY, JSI. Y. 



26 ADVERTISEMENTS. 

T|HE JVIANSION JHOUSE, 

KXCELSIOR PARK. 

Mrs. C. W. Lawrence, Proprietor. Mrs. H. M. ToLHURST, Manager. X 



■pj^His house will accommodate from seventy to eighty guests, and is 
fs/lvGi situated a mile east of the Town Hall, Saratoga Springs. 



It has wide piazzas, a fine shady lawn with Tennis and Croquet 
Grounds, and combines all the advantages of Saratoga, with the greater 
coolness and purer air of the country. It is three minutes walk from 
the Excelsior Springs, and the same distance from Excelsior Lake. 

The fine old woods of the Park e.\tend from the Spring to the 
village, and the drives and walks through them are always shady and 
inviting. 

The house has been thoroughly renovated and newly furnished 
almost throughout. The drainage is perfect and the water pure. 

The chambers are large and airy, with roomy closets. Comfortable 
beds and a good table, will be made specialties. A large garden insures 
fresh vegetables. 

The office has a telephone, and a conveyance will make trips at 
stated times to and from the village. The best of accommodations for 
private carriages. 

Special attention paid to the comfort of families taking board for the 
season. Address 

Mrs. H. M. TOLHURST, 

Manager. 
Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 



-^*s^REKEREN C ES .*^5*^- 

Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler, D. D., pastor Lafayette Ave. Church, . . Brooklyn 

Dr. James Cary Thomas, 317 Madison Ave., Baltimore 

Mr. James Whitall, 410 Race St., Philadelphia, . . . Residence, Germantown 
Rev. Joseph Carey, D. D., Rector Bethesda Episcopal Church, . . Saratoga 

Miss Sarah F. Smiley, ....... Excelsior Park, Saratoga 

Mr. and Mrs. James H. Talcott No. 7 West 57th St., New York 

Mr. and Mrs. Chas. N. Lockwood 68 First St., Troy, N. Y. 

Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith, . . . 4(5.53 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia 

Mr. Franklin N. Poor, Treas. Vermont and Mass. R. R., . . 17 State St., Boston 
Judge C. S. Lester, ........ Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Abel 258 West 127th St., New York City 

Rev. Peter Stryker, D. D., Pastor Andrew Pres. Church, . . Minneapolis 
Miss Mary L. Bonney, . . Ogontz School for Young Ladies, near Philadelphia 
Rev. Wm. R. Terrett, Pastor Second Pres. Church, Saratoga 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 27 



glinton M. Pcncclu 

BELL * COMPANY, 

TROY, N. Y. 

MANUFACTURE THE FINEST GRADE OF 
BELLS. 

% 

©pecial ailcrihoT) giVcr) lo Lnin-jc, ]'~caj ar)d (iriurcr) jOells. 
[ESTABLISHED 1861.1 

J. J. GILLESPY. 



DEALER IN 



|F21?2| ?ErIB©CD2BMT^3.^ 



/\les, yi[MES, [^jc, ro^ pAr^iLy (Jse. 
271 River St., Troy, U. Y. 




7 j&y'i^i''^ >>.-y 



STOWELL PRINTING CCMPANV, TBOV, N. Y 



